Conan O’Brien is prepping for his next big role: Oscars host.
The comedian sat down with ABC News’ Chris Connelly ahead of Hollywood’s biggest night and said that anything is possible for his first time as the host.
“We polled America. I spent a lot of my own money polling Americans and saying, ‘Would you like to see Conan O’Brien sing and dance?’ Shocking response,” he said. “People don’t want it, which means I’ll probably try and do it. I like to be an irritant.”
“Let’s just say there are many possibilities … and …we’ll see what happens as we get closer,” he added. “And my involvement in the show could expand, it could contract. It’ll all depend on where we are then.”
As for poking fun at the celebrities in the audience that night, O’Brien jokingly said he’ll “go after the ones that have personally been cruel” to him over the years.
He added, “I’m paying people to create moments.”
“I’m going to have a lot of fake moments that I can react to and people can say, ‘Wow, Conan is a genius. How did he see that coming?'” he continued. “And then later on, I’m giving Tom Hanks $300 in the parking lot.”
On a more serious note, O’Brien also talked about how he and producers are carefully crafting the show, which will take place just two months after wildfires devastated parts of Southern California, killing 29 people and destroying thousands of homes and buildings.
“L.A. has just been through this traumatic experience,” he said. “There’s a lot that’s happening nationally that people are very tense about and it changes day to day. And so my job right now with my writers is to create possibilities.”
The 2025 Oscars air March 2 on ABC and stream live on Hulu.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.